


Houston: We Located the Red Paladin (His name is Keith)

by CastielFollowMe



Series: The Voltron Actor AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Actor!AU, Alternate Universe - Actors, Anxiety, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 14:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14979575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: The new TV show, Voltron Legendary Defender is on the rise but there still isn't a Red Paladin. The crew is trying to their best to find a Red Paladin that works well with the other actors, but apparently the Red Paladin had been right under their noses all this time. His name is Keith and he is the most shy and badass person Lance has ever met.





	Houston: We Located the Red Paladin (His name is Keith)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Some of you might recognize this series from my tumblr! I'm trying to transfer a lot of my writing onto AO3. This series is inspired by the VLD Actor!AU that was created by @ackerchou on tumblr:
> 
> http://ackerchou.tumblr.com/
> 
> You can check out the Actor AU tag too for more HCs:
> 
> http://ackerchou.tumblr.com/tagged/actor-au
> 
> The AU belongs to ackerchou and I merely try to use my skills as a writer to see HCs come alive and put a spin. Next to kid!AU, fluff and angst, I LOVE actor!AUs. I hope you enjoy this sweet little AU as much as I have and be sure to check out her tumblr!

Lance was more than a little excited today.

  
Actually, he was practically  _bouncing_  off the walls and it had taken two make-up girls, a PA and one of the leading producers to kindly ask him to calm down. Though, it was hard when today was the first day of run throughs for the newest project that he was working on.

  
Voltron: The Legendary Defender television show.

  
Lance had been in his fair share of movies, television shows, commercials and even a few plays in his young acting career so far. He’d been quite lucky to have been picked up straight after high school to attend a fine school for acting and drama. From there he was getting roles in just about any genre and part. His success mainly skyrocketed in the past couple of years after his success on the big screen comedy movie he’d done a few years back, and now he was well known in the acting world.

  
However, Voltron felt different for Lance. It felt  _bigger._

  
Besides all the love and treatment from the crew, there were some huge bonus points in Lance’s life right now. One being that he was going to be onset, acting with  _the_  Takashi Shirogane.

  
The guy was a legend and Lance had seen practically every single role that Shiro had  _ever_  played, since he was a kid. Even some of Shiro’s not so successful earlier roles. The man was Lance’s hero and even after having met him and running rehearsals and through lines with him for almost a month now, Lance still (much to his embarrassment) was starry eyed and stars struck around Shiro.

  
Of course the other members of the cast were also a group of people that Lance found himself getting extremely close to and had heard much about. He’d watched Pidge (as they went by in their stage name) and their brother as a kid when they acted in several hit children shows. He’d immediately looked up Allura and watched several of her best works and fell deeply (or not so deeply as Allura tried to say) in love with the tough, smiling actress. Lance had already known Hunk as a kid and the two of them began their acting careers together, but this would be the first role he got act  _with_  Hunk. Coran was another serious legend that Lance often looked up to, already having gotten dozens of pieces of advice from him (though whether he listened to Coran or not was a whole other story).

  
However, the show was still missing one lead character.

  
The Red Paladin.

  
It was one of the main reasons for the hold up for shooting already. They’d been through hundreds upon hundreds of auditions so far, and were beginning to lose hope. Everyone that had auditioned was kind, sweet and very enjoyable but Lance often noticed a lack of  _connection_  with anyone and he was sure his cast mates felt it too.

  
There was an unexplainable and unique bond between each cast member and it was the reason that Lance knew Voltron would be a hit. It felt as if they were all somehow connected and meant to have been together. That connection still had yet to be found with someone to play the role of their Red Paladin.

  
Auditions were closing today and Lance desperately hoped for a miracle.

  
But, even that could not stop his mood nor his desire to practice his lines and be the best he could be. However, at the moment everyone else was busy with rehearsals or costumes and make up, leaving Lance without a partner and without a Red Paladin.

  
Mumbling to himself, Lance read over the lines of his scripts often pausing to add a dramatic movement or motion to his line. Due to this, he missed the fact that there was someone walking directly at him until it was too late.

  
 _“Oof.”_  Lance huffed when he slammed into a body and his script nearly fell to the floor. He felt the other body jump back as a stream of apologies began to emerge from the person, causing Lance to blink and look up. Only to look in the pair of brightest  _purple_  eyes he had ever seen?

  
_Wait, purple? Was that even possible?_

  
The guy had black hair that went down to his neck, with a dark black, snug t-shirt and a crop top vest on. His face immediately morphed into one of panic and Lance realized that it was him who was apologizing profusely.

  
“I-I am so sorry! I-I wasn’t paying attention to where I was g-going! A-Are you okay? I-I’m so sorry.” The guy babbled, holding up Lance’s script and looking close to tears. If Lance wasn’t so transfixed with his eyes, he probably actually would have felt bad for making the guy apologize for his mistake.

  
_Oops._

  
“Dude, are your eyes freaking purple?” Lance narrowed his eyes, leaning forward (and very much into the guy’s personal space) to get a better look at his eyes. The guy’s rambling ceased in a second before he was staring at Lance with nervous confusion.

  
“Ah, what?”

  
“How the hell are your eyes purple? There’s no way that can be real. Right?” Lance rubbed his chin and thought, causing the guy’s eyes to widen.

  
“O-Oh no. T-They’re contacts.” The man rubbed the back of his neck while his face began to heat up. Lance couldn’t stop the smile on his face at this. It was actually sort of adorable to watch this guy.

  
“Oh that’s cool.” Lance nodded.

  
“Y-Yeah? I used to w-wear colored c-contacts a lot as a kid.” The guy admitted with a sheepish smile and Lance chuckled.

  
“That’s awesome. Way cooler than me. I couldn’t even so much as get a temporary tattoo.” Lance shrugged, counting it as a win when the guy laughed nervously. “Oh, I’m Lance by the way. I’m playing the part of the more than handsome with a dash of perfection and drama on the side, Blue Paladin.” Lance held out his hand to shake, which the other guy immediately shook with a shy smile.

  
“Yeah. I know. I-I think everyone knows who you a-are here.” The guy admitted before handing Lance over his fallen script. “I-Im Keith.”

  
“Nice to meet you Keith. Come practice lines with me.” Lance grinned before grabbing the nervous man by the hand. He ignored the Keith’s sputtering and stuttering before dragging him away. “I need a partner and we don’t have a Red Paladin yet so I guess you get to be it for now!” All the while Keith’s face became redder and redder, but Lance never once bothered to look back.

  
x.V.x

  
The first thing that Lance noticed was Keith was _sassy_  when he wanted to be. Why he could even give Pidge a run for their money (except he highly doubted anyone could actually beat Pidge in a sass contest).

  
The second thing Lance noticed was: Keith was fucking good at acting.

  
Like really good.

  
It had taken Keith a few nervous tries to read the lines of the Red Paladin for Lance without sounding like a stuttering mess, but once he had gotten the hang of it, Lance believed that Keith was maybe _actually_  the Red Paladin. It didn’t feel as if they were two men practicing for a television but rather it was a real moment between the Red and Blue Paladins.

  
When Lance began to notice Keith stepping deep into the role of the Red Paladin, he decided to change tactics on Keith to see what else the man was capable of.

  
“Sendak could destroy the planet and come after us anyway.” Keith practically droned with a dark look in his eyes. “Staying is our only option.”

  
“Here’s an option: _shut your Quiznak!”_  Okay, that was definitely not a line in the script or part of the show at all. Lance was known to improvise and right now he wanted to see what Keith was capable of. There was only the slightest bit of hesitation, where Lance could see Keith’s brows furrowing in confusion, but just as quickly as it had come it was gone.

  
Then he spoke, “I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed as he folded his arms over his chest. Lance had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting into laughter but he pushed himself to go on.

  
“What do you know mullet?!” Lance shoved himself into Keith’s space with a glare. Without hesitation Keith pushed himself right up to Lance until he was practically forehead to forehead with Lance.

  
“We’re staying!”

  
“Leaving!”

  
Then, Lance couldn’t take it anymore and he shoved back with shoulders shaking as he burst into laughter. He could tell Keith was staring in obvious confusion and nerves while Lance cried until tears dripped from his eyes. He gulped in a large breath of air, still giggling before looking at Keith.

  
“Dude, you are incredible. Are you sure that you’ve never acted before?” Lance beamed, causing Keith to jerk in surprise.

  
“O-Only small roles or stunt d-doubles. That’s i-it.” Keith admitted, scratching at the back of his hand. Lance’s eyes widened and soon he was grabbing both of Keith’s wrists and pulling the awkward man behind him all while shouting.

  
“Guys! Guys, oh my god! You are never going to believe this but I found our Red Paladin!” Keith squeaked out loud trying to protest at this statement. Unfortunately, he was ignored by Lance. “Tell everyone else to go home, I have found the perfect Red Paladin and I will not accept anyone else!”

  
After over an hour where Keith had dragged a stunned Keith to the room full of producers, writers, directors and even most of the cast, Lance had proceeded to explain how Keith was perfect for the role of the Red Paladin. He often used his strongest points as persuasion such as:

  
“He had a freaking mullet. C’mon guys. A mullet.”

  
“The dude can apparently backflip off a building!”

  
“Lance I never said I could do that…”

  
“He has the best fashion sense; I mean look at that crop-top. It’s perfect for a Red Paladin who lived in the desert for years.”

  
“What’s wrong with my vest?”

  
“His acting, oh my space god, you should have seen his acting. Pidge, he puts you to shame.”

  
“How dare you Lance.”

  
“And he’s awesome and perfect for the role. Seriously, I’m going to quit if you guys won’t pick him.”

  
“Lance…”

  
Despite Keith’s weak protests he was instantly put on the spot to perform another audition. Before he had the chance to freak out in front of everyone, and further humiliate himself, Lance was already beginning to read off his lines with Shiro stepping in the join them. With a nod from Lance, Keith took a deep breath and began to redo his own lines.

  
x.V.x

  
Keith was terrified that the universe had a sick sense of humor and was messing with them.

  
He was still staring at his phone in his hand, after ending the conversation on the line over twenty minutes ago. It was as if he were frozen in time and just one wrong move would make everything disappear and fall apart.

  
It was only when there was a slap on his back that nearly made him fall onto his face, that caused him to snap out of his trance. The other person immediately apologized and steadied Keith back onto his feet. He blinked rapidly only to find himself staring straight up at  _Takashi Shirogane_.

  
The Takashi Shirogane.

  
The same Takashi Shirogane with over thirty awards, including a few Oscars.

  
The same Takashi Shirogane who was voted sexiest man in the world last year.

  
_The Takashi Shirogane._

  
Talking to him.

  
Shiro’s smile was brighter than the sun and Keith’s jaw dropped. “Hey, there! Keith, right?”

  
Keith’s tongue was dry. “Shiro…”

  
“Yep. That’s me.” Shiro beamed, unaware that Keith was about 0.5 seconds away from internal combustion. “Congratulations! I heard you just got the part of the Red Paladin.”

  
“Shiro…”

  
“That’s terrific. I was getting a bit worried there. Without the Red Paladin we were a bit  _short handed_.” Shiro grinned waving the prosthetic on his arm.

  
“You – Shiro.”

  
“That’s a relief. You were awesome back there, and I saw a practice stunt you did earlier. That’s so awesome!” Shiro continued while Keith gawked.

  
“Shiro – You – Shiro.”

  
“Well I’m happy to be working with you. You’re the  _right_  hand man that Voltron needed.” Shiro chuckled to himself and slapped Keith on the back once more. Luckily, Keith didn’t go flying this time. “It’ll be great to get to know you and I’m excited to be working together. See you at rehersals tomorrow Red.” Shiro winked with a wave and soon he was leaving.

  
“Thanks. I mean, Shiro. I mean thanks, Shiro!” Keith called and earned another smile and wave from Shiro before the other was gone. He stood in another daze for a few more moments, clutching the phone to his chest, before an arm was thrown around his shoulder. He felt another set of hands rubbing his hair and a third person standing close by. When Keith was freed and looked up he saw Hunk, Pidge and Lance beside him.

  
“Welcome to the club Keithy boy!” Lance smirked being the closest to him and most likely having being the one to wrap his arm around Keith. Keith couldn’t help but grin at the other. After all, he was the reason that Keith had just gotten a lead role in this television series.

  
His first big role. Ever.

  
“How does it feel to be your first major casting role?” Hunk asked sincerely and Keith felt his smile only grow wider.

  
“I don’t know.”

  
“Shut up. It feels awesome and you know it!” Lance chided but he was grinning the entire time. With a short burst of laughter Keith nodded in agreement.

  
Yeah. It sure did feel awesome.

  
And this was only the beginning.


End file.
